ami Archives - Syneka Marketing

The Awards for Marketing Excellence is the premier event for the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI), highlighting the role of marketing in fostering growth and capacity. We were finalists in both 2013 and 2014, and this year I was invited to serve on the Judging Panel.

The Awards were officiated by Channel Ten’s Russel Howcroft and it was fantastic to see the strong interest from AMI partners in supporting the event. The Awards provide an opportunity to showcase not only the entrants, but the value that is created through effective marketing.

There is a need to re-define marketing so it returns to its core intent of being a strategic function that builds business capacity. The National Awards support this conversation by demonstrating the impact that is created through a holistic and measurable approach to marketing.

Entrants in the Awards for Marketing Excellence, will be further recognised at our AMI end of year function on the 9th of December.

Interest in this article has demonstrated why marketing needs to reclaim its core remit, so today we are going to exploring another buzzword: customer journey.

In defining the customer experience, we returned to the core of marketing theory through the marketing mix. The overall customer experience is going to be defined by the impact of the impressions that are made across each of these elements.

We need to return to fundamentals to explore the customer journey, as we explore the steps that are taken for someone to become a customer and ideally remain so on an ongoing basis.

Phases in the Customer Journey

There are three interconnected phases within the customer journey:

Pre-purchase – where the aim is to raise awareness with your target markets and ensure that your brand is actively considered by these prospective customers.

The Purchase phase – where the prospect becomes a customer. This is where they commit to purchasing your product or service and the perceptions of its brand.

The Post-purchase phase – where your customer considers the outcomes and value they received, based on their perceptions and the outcomes that were achieved.

The three phases of the customer journey as mapped to the decision making process.

The Decision Making Process has its origins in consumer behaviour stemming from the 1960s. We have adapted this model to explore each phase in the customer journey, as viewed through the decision making process. It explores both the rational (such as pricing and function) and perceptual (attitudes and subjective impressions) aspects that influence the decision.

The customer journey is not linear and this particularly true if there is a desire to build loyalty and repeat purchases. The experience you are creating through the marketing mix will impact on the ability to successfully transition your target market through the customer journey. The customer experience relates to their interaction with your business or brand, while the customer journey views this from the customer perspective as they identify the best fit for their needs.

Like other buzzwords in marketing there is a need to return to core principles, a Marketing Manager should have the ability to influence factors that assist in transitioning customers through the journey. We will be continuing this series as we turn our attention to measuring both the customer experience and journey.

Melbourne Women’s Fund provides the opportunity for women to undertake collective giving, where funding is donated to organisations that support women and families.

This evening I attended the anniversary of the Melbourne Women’s Fund, celebrating its first year of operations. The Fund enables individuals who share a common passion for particular causes to have a greater collective impact through donations and support.

The Anniversary Celebrations provided the opportunity to reflect on this impact and to meet key supporters. Philanthropy remains a significant contributor to the funding of charities and it is great to see the success of the Melbourne Women’s’ Fund.

The Emerging Marketers Mentoring Program is one of the highlights of the Australian Marketing Institute’s annual program. Experienced marketers are matched with emerging marketers, providing mentoring and advice to assist with the transition from studies into a career, or how to progress as they develop their marketing expertise.

This evening the Australian Marketing Institute held the launch of the Emerging Marketers Program for 2015, where we announced the matching of mentors with mentees. Interest in the program for both mentors and mentees continues to grow, reinforcing the importance of continual development. Both Natalia and I are mentors through the Emerging Marketers program and we have begun to discuss an action plan for our mentees.

As professional marketers we need to expand the capacity of the profession so the sector can demonstrate its impact. The emerging marketers mentoring program is an evident example of how the sector can strengthen the marketing profession.

We attended the Silicon Beach #SiliconStartups event. The event was a first for Silicon Beach, and featured two start ups who discussed their journey so far. The start ups – Get Worm and Fostr discussed the challenges they faced and their point of difference.

Silicon Beach is a leading start up community that brings together a range of start up founders and their supporters. We are a sponsor of this group, where we aim to re-define marketing so it aides Australia’s start up community.

Nine in every ten start ups fail, and this event provided insights into the process. Both start ups discussed the importance of marketing in their approach, as well as looking at the big picture beyond the Australian market.

The Australian Marketing Institute as Australia’s peak marketing association holds regular events to provide new skills to the marketers and the profession. Last week, we held our first event for 2015, Big Data: Beyond the Buzzwords, where we explored how big data has led to better business decisions.

Big data itself, is a relatively simple concept, where disparate but interrelated data is combined to deliver new insights. At one stage, Big Data as a concept, was considered the forefront of innovation and it is important that marketers continue to explore new methods of delivering greater insight.

Today’s session explored innovation and the need for marketers to remain innovative. International speaker, Cyriel Kortleven led participants through a framework that they can use to remain connected to innovation and to always explore new possibilities. Cyriel worked interactively with attendees to help harness creativity and utilised the excellent facilities provided through the NAB Arena.

Feedback for both Break out of the Box and Big Data: beyond the buzzwords, was extremely positive and it is fantastic to see professional marketers engaging in Australia’s peak marketing association.